Republic of Congo: Republic of Congo: Third Review under the Three-year Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Modification and Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review-Press Release; Staf

This paper presents Republic of Congo’s Third Review under the Three-Year Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility, Requests for Modification of Performance Criteria, Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria, and Financing Assurances Review. Strengthened economic recovery remains fragile amid moderating oil prices and an uncertain global environment. Some progress has been achieved on structural reforms, but sustained efforts to step up reform implementation in public financial and debt management, governance, and transparency will be critical to attaining higher, more resilient and inclusive growth. Continued energy sector reforms remain particularly essential. Structural reforms continued to advance in some areas, but the program underperformed in several areas. Progresses were achieved in procurement planning, debt reporting, and efforts to increase transparency. However, three out of five performance criteria related to the fiscal position and debt service management were missed, prompting authorities to request waivers for these three criteria and take strong corrective measures.